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BURUNDI-RWANDA: Omar Sabimana: "We are like prisoners in this camp"

Omar Sabimana, 25, a Rwandan refugee in Burundi, was transferred to Giharo in the southeastern province of Rutana in 2006. He finds camp life stultifying and would like to work. "I fled Rwanda in 2005. I first found refuge at Rwisuri in northern Ngozi province, then Songore. We were later forced back into Rwanda, but I kept coming back. They wanted to force me to go to Arusha [in Tanzania, where the tribunal trying suspected ringleaders on the 1994 Rwandan genocide is based] to testify against...

BURUNDI: Sexual violence, cultural prejudice put women in HIV crosshairs

The low social status of Burundi's women leaves them vulnerable to sexual violence, while cultural taboos prevent them from seeking help. This is compounding their risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, according to local non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In its annual report, Ligue ITEKA, a local human rights group, found that despite the end of 13 years of war, when ethnic and sexual violence were common, and a return to democracy in 2005, sexual violence...

BURUNDI: Sex and drugs leave Bujumbura's homeless at risk of HIV

Thousands of children and adults living rough on the streets of Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, face a daily struggle to eat and find a warm corner to sleep in; many blot out the reality of their situation by turning to sex and drugs. Innocent Bagayuwitonze, now 26, has been living on the streets for 12 years. He told IRIN/PlusNews that he used the pittance he earned as a casual labourer to pay local sex workers for their services. Unable to muster the same fee as other men, he only gets lucky...

BURUNDI: Ancilla Riziki: “We live on rich people’s garbage”

Ancilla Riziki, 38, lives with her nine children in Buterere, one of the poorest suburbs of the Burundian capital, Bujumbura. Struggling to find formal employment and with a large family to feed, she works on a rubbish dump, foraging through the garbage all day with no protection for her hands and feet. “We were living at Gasenyi in the north of Bujumbura in 1993 but we had to leave because of the war. Kamenge was becoming a battlefield; every house was being destroyed. The whole population...

BURUNDI: Regina Nzokirantevye, "I have been displaced most of my life"

CIBITOKE  - Regina Nzokirantevye, 70, left her home in Burundi’s northern province of Ngozi in 1972 when civil war broke out and only returned to the country in 2005, spending more than three decades as a refugee in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Since her return, she has been living in camps for returnees and the internally displaced: "I am growing old, yet I am all alone in this house. When I left my home in 1972 I wasn't even married. I fled to Bukavu [in eastern DRC] where I...

BURUNDI: Study says coffee harvest linked to increase in gender-based violence

The April-July coffee harvest period in Burundi has been linked to increases in gender-based violence and the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. It is not uncommon for women and children to be on the receiving end of both physical and emotional abuse during this period, CARE International, an international non-governmental organization (NGO) operating in the country, said in a new report. Men were described as becoming more violent during this period as a...

BURUNDI: Moise Barekezabe, “Home is home, despite the hardships”

Moise Barekezabe, 40, one of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Burundi, is happy to be back in the country despite living in camps, without a job or income, since his return in 2002. Barekezabe left with his parents in 1972 when he was only four, fleeing the civil war. Together with Burundian refugees who had lived for years in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Barekezabe returned home due to civil war in the DRC. When my parents left the country, we moved...

BURUNDI: Appeal for $132m humanitarian aid

United Nations agencies and other humanitarian organisations in Burundi have appealed for US$132 million in humanitarian aid to assist vulnerable people this year. Launching the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) in Burundi's northwestern province of Cibitoke on Wednesday, Mahmoud Youssef, the special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Burundi, said the focus for the year would be solely on humanitarian concerns, unlike previous appeals that also included recovery from war and...

AFRICA: Adapt or face crisis, warn climate analysts

Africa must learn to adapt to the world’s changing climate if lives and livelihoods are to be saved, according to a report on the effects of global warming on the African continent. Many Africans could be facing severe hunger problems as extreme weather conditions on the continent deplete food production, says the new study focusing on climate change in the Horn of Africa and East Africa.According to Mario Herrero, co-author of the report titled ‘Mapping Climate Vulnerability in Africa’,...

AFRICA: Adapt or face crisis, warn climate analysts

Africa must learn to adapt to the world’s changing climate if lives and livelihoods are to be saved, according to a report on the effects of global warming on the African continent. Many Africans could be facing severe hunger problems as extreme weather conditions on the continent deplete food production, says the new study focusing on climate change in the Horn of Africa and East Africa. According to Mario Herrero, co-author of the report titled ‘Mapping Climate Vulnerability in Africa’,...